This application claims the benefit under Title 35, U.S.C. xc2xa7119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/058,311, entitled STANDARDIZED FURNITURE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE, filed on Sep. 9, 1997.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to furniture systems, and, more particularly, to drawers for standardized furniture units comprising such systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Furniture manufacturers often manufacture several different product lines of furniture systems, such as office furniture systems, with each product line having a different style or aesthetic appearance. Although many of the individual units of these different product lines are similar, typically each product line is independently designed and developed and component parts of each product line, such as drawers and their related hardware, although similar, are not often interchangeable. This lack of interchangeability may also be present for similar components of different furniture units within a single product line resulting in a large number of distinct components which must be inventoried and utilized in the manufacture of furniture systems.
The present invention provides a drawer and its related hardware for a standardized furniture unit, which can be adapted to accommodate various styles and designs of the furniture unit.
One of the basic building blocks of the standardized furniture system of the present invention is the use of common underlying structures for individual furniture units which may be combined in a modular office furniture system. For example, a common structure for a pedestal unit may be used as the basis for a large variety of different pedestal styles. These pedestal units are designed to permit their combination with other furniture units and components such as standard sized worksurface panels and modesty panels whereby desks and workstations may be easily manufactured by assembling these various units. The common underlying structures may be utilized to manufacture product lines having different styles by the use of distinguishable drawer fronts, doors, moldings, rails, skirting and other features.
To facilitate the compatibility of the different furniture units, the interchangeability of hardware and panels, and promote the efficient machining of the panels and other parts such as drawers, a 32 millimeter (mm) grid is utilized in the design and manufacture of the common underlying structures and other furniture components. A computer assisted design/computer assisted manufacturing system (CAD/CAM system) is utilized with numeric control machinery in the design and manufacture of many of the component parts and panels of the common underlying furniture unit structures and for other panels used in the future system. The use of such a CAD/CAM system can greatly facilitate the efficient manufacture of furniture panels on an as needed basis.
The drawers of the present invention utilize drawer shells having standard sizes and which utilize common drawer mounting and locking hardware. The drawers are mountable in a standard pedestal structure in three different positions, i.e., an overlay position, a xc2xd inset position, and a fully inset position. The common drawer mounting and locking hardware utilized by the standard drawer shells includes a drawer slide which is mountable in each of the three different drawer positions, a three bay lock block positioned at a standard location on each drawer shell and which functions for each of the three drawer positions, and a common locking bar which is adaptable for use with pedestal units having different drawer configurations. Also provided are drawer fronts which are attachable to the standard drawer shells to distinguish drawers from different product lines and provide a platform for ornamentation.
An advantage of the present invention is that it reduces the number of drawer shells and related hardware which must be inventoried and tracked during the manufacture of standardized furniture units.
One aspect of the present invention provides a standardized furniture unit in which a drawer moves in a longitudinal direction and has a plurality of closed positions. The inventive furniture unit comprises a stationary panel with a first slide element attached thereto. The drawer has a shell with a second slide element attached thereto. The first and second slide elements are coupled together and move relative to each other, and one of the first and second slide elements is provided with at least one set of a plurality of mounting holes aligned along the longitudinal direction, each of the mounting holes in each said set corresponding to a different drawer closed position. One of the mounting holes in each set is aligned with a standardized slide element mounting point in the stationary panel or the drawer shell, and the alignment of different ones of the plurality of slide element mounting holes with the standardized slide element mounting point results in a different drawer closed position. Additionally, certain embodiments of the inventive furniture unit have a lock mechanism attached to the stationary panel, with the drawer provided with a plurality of lock bays aligned along the longitudinal direction, each lock bay corresponding to a different drawer closed position. The lock mechanism is selectively engaged with one of the lock bays thus making the drawer lockable in each of its closed positions.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a furniture unit in which a drawer moves in a longitudinal direction, the drawer comprising a shell having a side panel in which a groove is provided, the groove extending in the longitudinal direction. An insert having a hat-shaped cross section is mounted in the groove and attached to the shell outside of the groove. A slide element is disposed in the hat-shaped section such that the space between the drawer side panel and an adjacent member is minimized.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a lockable enclosure comprising a panel having an exterior surface, an aperture provided through the panel and having a bore portion provided in the exterior panel surface, the bore portion defining an edge surface. A lock assembly having a shell surrounding a core which extends from the shell is disposed in the bore portion, with the edge surface of the bore portion adjacent the lock assembly core. This aspect of the present invention provides improved appearance over prior lockable enclosures by minimizing the externally visible portion of the lock.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a furniture unit in which a drawer moves in a longitudinal direction, the drawer having opposing side panels, at least two of which are each provided with a file support rail. The file support rail has a file support extension comprising a first material and having a tip comprising a second material, the first material harder than the second material.